04 October 2009

There is a lot out there this morning, too much to be honest, on what Cameron has to do this week in his attempt to “Seal the Deal”.

On the one hand we have the “smile, nod, wave and say very little” brigade and on other hand we have the “set out in detail” pressure group.

Let us wind the clock back to 1996 when Blair, who had very much “sealed the deal”, was walking on water and on his way into Downing Street with no questions asked. After 18 years of Tory rule the country just couldn't wait to rush to the polls.

Today, the landscape is not the same. The economy is not bouncing along on the crest of wave as in 1997, but in recession. Voters are rightly concerned about their future. There are questions being asked of Team Cameron. What he would do? How he would do it, etc. As discussed:

There is no excitement up and down the land for a Tory government. There is no rush to get to the polls. There will no repeat performance of a new dawn, as there was in 1997, if Cameron is elected.

Now for the findings of the ComRes poll published in the Independent on Sunday:

Significantly, however, despite Mr Cameron's popularity, almost half of voters confess that they don't know exactly what he stands for – and the figure has remained steady for the past 15 months. Most worrying of all for the Tories is the fact that a third of their own voters don't know what their party leader stands for.

For those reasons the media won’t allow the “smile, nod, wave and say very little” brigade to win the day. Team Cameron will be questioned about their detailed plans and consequences.

We come back to the Marr interview. As mentioned below it was a less than impressive performance by Cameron, which Mike Smithson has also picked up on. There was that rather fretful look on his face and his failure to give answers to key questions on Lisbon and what public spending cuts would mean for unemployment.

It was clear that Cameron's strategy for “Operation Seal the Deal” will be “smile, nod, wave and say very little”.

On the evidence of this morning, he may not be allowed to get away with it.